In the Unlikely Event

Synopsis

She held the baby close, feeling the warmth of his little body, kissing his soft cheek. He looked right into her eyes.Outside the window, the wing broke away from the plane.Then they were falling . . . falling diagonally out of the sky.

When three planes crashed in Elizabeth, New Jersey within the space of three months in the early 1950s, Newark airport was closed for a year. Each of these disasters was devastating not only for those on board, but also for the close-knit community of people on the ground. In Elizabeth, the plane crashes open up new wounds and mysteries - they bring some families together and tear others apart. But somehow, life continues - and amid grief and loss, hope and love survive.

Inspired by real events, Judy Blume uses her imagination to interweave the stories of three generations of families, friends and strangers whose lives are forever changed in the aftermath. In The Unlikely Event is a captivating, deeply moving and unforgettable novel, written with the same warmth and authenticity that have won the hearts and minds of readers the world over for decades.

In the media

In The Unlikely Event is Judy Blume's first book for adults in more than 15 years and before the end of the first chapter you'll be breathing a happy sigh that the wait is over . . . Judy Blume is fantastic at assembling a cast of characters so clearly drawn that you'd recognise them in the street and so real that you care deeply about each of them after only a few lines . . . For those of us who grew up alongside Blume's beloved teenage characters, this book is a welcome homecoming

Sunday Express

A great portrait of an era . . . Blume's hallmark warmth and humanity shine through and there is a loveliness to this novel in its depths of philanthropy and human understanding. It leaves the reader longing to meet the author for a soul-lifting heart-to-heart. The fairy godmother is alive and well

Guardian

Offers readers the classic Blume experience - a nuanced portrayal of the everyday intricacies of love and friendship but set against a backdrop of extraordinary tragedy . . . In the Unlikely Event is comfort reading at its most soothing, the turn of its pages like sitting down with a beloved, long-lost friend